Effective Low-Cost Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

Small businesses do not always have a massive budget for marketing. For this reason, they simply cannot outspend the competition but rather have to be more creative and utilize other methods. The best marketing plans do not have to be expensive as spending quite a bit of money never guarantees that a marketing campaign will be successful.

Cash flow is important when it comes to running a small business smoothly so risking part of this on marketing just isn’t an option. The following are some marketing tips that won’t break the budget for small businesses.

Sponsoring A Softball Team

The sponsoring of a local youth sports team can be a great way to earn favor with the local community. This will not cost much and can be a great marketing ploy. Restaurants do this on a consistent basis then offer those who went to the game a discount. Obviously, the uniforms should mention the small business on them but the logo can only be so big.

There are team flags or even Kahuna flags that can be put near the field or sideline that can help the business get more exposure. These flags are affordable and can be used for years at a time as they are durable as well. Look into helping the youth while earning brand recognition and favor from the locals with one of the best traditional advertising methods.

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Social Media Isn’t A Full-Time Job

[pullquote]Those small business owners who think that they have to have a person on social media at all times are wrong.[/pullquote] Huge brands have to have full-time employees on this as they have thousands of interactions per day. Looking into Hootsuite which allows you to schedule social media posts weeks in advance can be a huge advantage.

Taking time to write a month’s worth of tweets shouldn’t take very long. The only other thing to do is to engage with followers when they ask a question or comment. This can be a great way to market your customer service as followers will see the dedication even on social media to making their customers happy.

Create Your Own Blog

Plenty of small businesses have the bare bones blog that hasn’t been updated in years. This can be a great place to market a small business as well as turn a writer or company member into a thought leader on certain topics. Creating consistently interesting blog content should not be difficult when it is crowdsourced to others in the company as well.

Requiring a majority of people to write on post a month can help reduce the workload. On the other hand, if someone wants to take control of the blog part time, this cost is completely worth it. This can turn the company blog into a resource but it also can help the website rank for SEO terms. If you decide to manage your blog in house, you can use a platform such as WordPress to design the layout of your website, and then find a reputable hosting company to get your blog off the ground and running.

LinkedIn Couldn’t Be More Important

LinkedIn is considered social media but it is much different than other platforms. This platform is for job seekers or simply those who want to connect with others in their industry. LinkedIn can be a way to connect with potential clients and customers but it can do much more. Professional referrals can be a great way to fill a sales funnel.

[pullquote]Asking a contact to introduce you via LinkedIn can get a foot in the door so make sure your product or service delivers![/pullquote] Those who the small business already works with should be encouraged to write endorsements on employees they work with. This helps build a portfolio of work for those who view the small business’ employee via LinkedIn.

Marketing for a small business has to be strategic as throwing money at the problem is not an option like it is with larger companies. Utilizing the above marketing tactics can allow a business to compete with those much larger. Small businesses that are set in a local area alone should try to emphasize their connection with the community, unlike nameless faceless corporations. Good luck with your small business marketing and remember it is all about conversions!

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Effective Low-Cost Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

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